On one hand, the Ten Dons had invested in far too many industries. Their mafia organizations were bloated, and simply keeping everything running consumed enormous money every day.
Second, maintaining a Ten Don's position required "greasing palms" upward as well—another major expense.
Third, Raymond had poured a huge amount of money into this year's auction. And since the underground auction hadn't been held yet, the lots in hand hadn't been sold, so capital hadn't flowed back in.
The Yorknew auction was, in the first place, one of the Ten Dons' methods for laundering black money.
Once this batch of goods moved, the money would return.
But the issue was: even if Ronin scraped everything together, they only had a bit over 20 billion—there was no chance of snatching even a single copy of Greed Island from the hands of the super-rich Battera.
That insanely wealthy man wouldn't blink even if the price rose into the hundreds of billions.
If there were many copies of Greed Island in circulation, they might be able to fight for one.
But in Numpis' catalog there were only two copies. Competing with Battera for one was basically impossible.
As for negotiating with Numpis in advance using "status," that was also difficult. Greed Island wasn't like Scarlet Eyes.
And Ronin and Kurapika weren't going to do what the Phantom Troupe did and simply rob the game.
So when Kurapika said he wanted to enter the game, the only realistic route Ronin could think of was to contact Battera and get access through him.
"Are you interested in Greed Island?" Ronin was genuinely curious why Kurapika wanted to go in.
Manga Kurapika had never shown interest in Greed Island.
"Yeah. A little." Kurapika finally stopped doing push-ups, drenched in sweat as he ended Ren.
The chain from his pinky floated out. Tiny silver needles emerged, and as it neared Kurapika, they pricked into acupoints across his body.
There was no pain—only a comfortable loosening sensation.
As his aura retracted, Kurapika picked up a bottle of water and also entered Zetsu.
"My and Neon's practical combat experience is still too limited," Kurapika said, dissatisfied with himself.
Aura capacity growth had to be gradual.
But improvement in combat required real experience.
And Greed Island, as Ronin described it, wasn't just full of monsters that could sharpen technique—it also had players rushing around collecting cards and trying to clear the game.
Those players were Nen users. Even if not everyone was combat-oriented, interacting with them would broaden horizons and deepen understanding of Nen. In Kurapika's eyes, they were perfect "tools" for training.
Plus, the game had many miraculous items. Used properly, they could make it easier to locate Troupe members in-game and eliminate them.
So overall, entering the game to hunt Troupe members was incredibly cost-effective.
Even if the Troupe left early, they could still use cards brought out of Greed Island—targeting people who had interacted with the Troupe—to track them.
Of course… that required clearing the game.
Kurapika's gaze swept over Ronin.
If it's nii-san Ronin… he could probably do it.
After hearing Kurapika's reasoning, Ronin shared what he knew as the easiest way to gain entry:
"As far as I know, the tycoon Battera has a sick lover. He wants someone to clear Greed Island to obtain a key card: Angel's Breath.
They say even a mortally wounded person—or an incurable disease—can be healed by a single breath from the angel."
Ronin laid out everything he knew.
Kurapika proposed an idea: "If we combine your medical abilities with my healing chain, could we replicate that card's effect?"
Ronin shook his head. "My healing is mainly accelerating wound recovery, extracting toxins, organ transplantation, and basic surgical work. For diseases and incurable conditions, the effect is limited."
He didn't add that even with surgery, he wasn't particularly skilled—because real medical knowledge was needed to make that work properly.
"My ability is similar," Kurapika admitted. His healing chain overlapped somewhat with Ronin's medical ninjutsu.
That overlap existed mostly because back then Ronin hadn't displayed healing abilities, and Kurapika had been worried Ronin would get hurt.
Now, it seemed the healing chain would mostly be used on Kurapika himself.
Still, healing was a rare-type ability, so Kurapika didn't regret obtaining it at all.
"Let's rely on strength," Ronin said. "If we can contact him, then with our strength we can make Battera believe there's hope of clearing the game—and he'll hire us."
Kurapika was curious. Since the massacre, nii-san Ronin had become not only stronger, but much more mysterious.
Kurapika remembered that Ronin had once left the village and gone out into the world. But after Ronin returned, he had never chosen to leave again.
Kurapika didn't know what Ronin had experienced outside.
As the two discussed it, Neon also became curious about Greed Island. "Is that Greed Island you mentioned really full of magical items?"
"Of course," Ronin said as if it were obvious.
At the same time, a question popped into his own mind: if he could bring a single item out of the game into reality, what would he choose?
He didn't explain further to Neon. If they went, the three of them would enter together—so she'd see the items herself.
The broad direction was now set.
But the next thing Kurapika mentioned made Ronin pay attention.
"Muherr said before he left that if he had time, he'd like to talk with you privately," Kurapika said.
Muherr was the leader of the Rock mercenary group—the same person who had helped Ronin block Machi back at Heavens Arena. Ronin remembered him clearly.
But what did Muherr want to talk about?
"Sure," Ronin agreed. "When?"
"I'll reply to him. Probably within the next day or two—he also went to attend the auction," Kurapika said. "Honestly, we really owe him this time. Without the mercenaries and Delilah that Milia introduced, my plan of facing the Troupe alone would've just been suicide."
"At least you know that," Ronin said, annoyed.
Kurapika sank into the soft sofa and let out a long breath. "If you don't truly face the Troupe members yourself, then even watching your battles from afar, you still won't understand the gap between you and them.
And if I hadn't personally touched that darkness, I might never have realized just how bottomless a person's evil can be."
~~~
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